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February072013

01:25

“Not all German-style board games are German, and not all German-style games are board games. As a result, various other names have been offered for the class. Eurogame is a common, though still imprecise, alternative label. Because most of these games feature the name of the designer prominently on the box, they are sometimes known as designer games. Other names include family strategy game and hobby game. Shorter, lighter games in this class are known as gateway games, whereas longer, heavier games are known as gamers' games.”

January272013

00:12

“[Bernini's St. Theresa in Ecstasy (1645–52)] is widely considered a masterpiece of the Baroque, although the mix of religious and erotic imagery (faithful to St Teresa's own written account) may raise modern eyebrows. However, Bernini was a devout Catholic and was not attempting to satirize the experience of a chaste nun. Rather, he aimed to portray religious experience as an intensely physical one. Theresa described her bodily reaction to spiritual enlightenment in a language of ecstasy used by many mystics, and Bernini's depiction is earnest.”

January242013

13:21

“It's something I did not realise until recently. I used to watch David Attenborough's nature documentaries, while listening to music, with the narration off. Recently I watched some of the same documentaries, this time hearing the commentary, and I was really shocked. He's deeply ideological. I can't pick out any specific lines - if watched them again I could - the experience was nauseating. He projects a social narrative onto what is just funny looking creatures running around and eating things. I watch nature programs to escape ideology - it only really works with the sound turned down. With the sound turned down you will notice that there are no kings in the natural kingdom - turn it up, and Attenborough presents graceful aristocrats, beasts are "majestic", hierarchies and "natural" order - and little asides "like in our world", whatever that world is.”

“My gripe with a lot of these nature shows is that they are showcases for a neo-Darwinian point of view that prizes competition more than co-operation, legitimises violence and hierarchy, and suggests that humans and nature, and even species of animals and plants that have actually co-existed for hundreds of thousands of years, can't live together in the same area without some form of violent or physical conflict. In this worldview, the only legitimate and stable group that animals can live in is a family group and nothing bigger.

Ever see a nature show about African animals that had elephants, hippos, antelopes or any other species co-existing with local human communities and each species, human and non-human, adapting in their own ways to living in harmony with the other, constantly fine-tuning the balance, the humans respecting the animals' right to certain territory and performing their rituals there and the animals doing the same for the humans?

To see how our perceptions of evolution and Darwinian explanations of evolution are heavily tinted by culture and ideology, you could read what Geoff Olson has to say about these in his article about Prince Peter A Kropotkin, the 19th century Russian zoologist / geographer who argued that co-operation is as important as competition in evolution here:http://geoffolson.com/page5/page8/page25/page25.html

January182013

11:16

“Having spent a decade loving parody but suddenly finding themselves adults, since 1980 the Boomers have tried to attenuate parody by stripping out the satire, making Authority seem like it’s in on the joke. This is why old ads strike us as so flat-footed. But corporations can’t be funny, anymore than they can be sad, or excited. They cannot be self-aware, because there is no self.”

A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society. It requires a complex interaction between a handful of vendors—in all likelihood, a couple of dozen—and the ability to ship ingredients vast distances while keeping them fresh. The cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago as, indeed, it did not.

“White people hated harvesting sugar. They’re cool with it now because they can sit on big tractors and listen to Toby Keith sing about putting his boots inside an Arab’s rectum while acres and acres of cane are caught up in America’s annual sugar rapture. Then, Jesus rains down Coca Cola on us all. The natives get casinos. Guns replace our dicks, and we swim in a river of gasoline and diabetes all the way to the innernet store.”

January062013

23:49

“Make sure that you mention that Indonesia is vast, sprawling and diverse. Mention that it has 17,000 islands on the first page. Having done this you are free to write only about Java for the rest of the book.”

“There's My Lai, Haditha, Abu Ghraib, torture in the Philippines at the turn of the century; the list goes on, and it is long. But there's no room for that on American party days. Mentioning it is like muttering Eric Clapton's "wogs speech" to a dude air-guitaring with white-man's-overbite to "Wonderful Tonight." That overbite guy is America; he does not care, bro.

That's why I wanted to spend the day listening for Kid Rock. There are
lots of opinions about Kid Rock. Many of them are that he is fucking
terrible.”

January032013

20:32

“China Oil Painting Gallery is a well reputed painting art company in Xiamen, China.

We can supply famous oil painting on canvas in museum quality by the best price. Fine art is not far from you. We have professional artists of different painting subjects and art styles to do famous painting reproduction.

You can choose any image from our website and put the order online. Or Contact us for the image from you. For any painting we’ll arrange the best artist to paint when you confirm the order.

We are representing some outstanding Chinese contemporary artists’original paintings.

For the original painting, you can buy the painting currently we have, if the sizes are not right for you, please contact with us with your specific requirement, we’ll arrange the same artist to paint by your needs.”

December242012

18:29

“...and there's no getting around that this guy is operating on a pretty high level of privilege, in terms of being able to afford this, design this, and make it inhabitable.

Which seems to be the unifying thread running through every "tiny dwelling" feature I come across, whether it be on wheels, or a fixed place. I leave with the impression that living in the tiny space is really just a "because I can" fashion option for these people, and not something created out of sheer necessity.”